


Cecil's Retreat

by mglouise97



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Anger
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-30
Updated: 2014-12-30
Packaged: 2018-03-04 07:35:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2996984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mglouise97/pseuds/mglouise97
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After an argument with Carlos, Cecil goes on one of the municipally mandatory stress reliever retreats. Carlos follows him and is horrified at what he finds.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cecil's Retreat

Once a month, sometimes more depending on his stress level, Cecil would go on a municipally mandatory stress reliever retreat. Cecil says that these retreats are to release stress, clear his mind, and heal himself emotionally. And Carlos does see a significant difference on his mood when he returns from the retreat on Monday mornings. He is all smiles and bouces around as light as a feather, the worries of the world gone from his mind. Carlos sometimes wishes he could go on a retreat too. But he is not yet an official Night Vale citizen so he has to deal with his stress himself. So he does what he has always done, throw himself into his work. 

\-----

One night, Carlos and Cecil got into a huge fight. It had started as just a normal argument and but escalated from there. It wasnt anyone's fault, really. Both of them were tired and overworked. They had been arguing for about an hour or so and things were really heated. Cecil suddenly went stiff for a full minute. It was like he was in a trance or something. Slowly, calmly, he said "emotional overload. Retreat. Retreat" over and over again. Then with a jolt he flew into the bedroom, shoved a few clothes into his bag and walked out of the house. Carlos yelled out the door after him, trying to figure out why he needed to go to the retreat at 11 oclock at night without a flashlight no less, why they couldnt just work it out now. Cecil was halfway down the street when he turned back and screamed "retreat" so loudly that all of the birds on the block scattered. 

Cecil was emotional, but he was usually fairly reasonable too. But Cecil had never walked out on Carlos like that. It wasnt like him. What he had said, "emotional overload", it sounded like when robots say "system overload", and then shut down. Carlos just couldnt shake the feeling that something strange was going on with Cecil so Carlos grabbed his jacket and ran after him. But even when he caught up to Cecil, he didnt acknowledge Carlos at all. Carlos shouted, clapped his hands, shook Cecil, even tried to get in front of him to make him stop walking. But Cecil truely looked like a robot, emotionless and unstoppable. He just kept trudging along down the street. So Carlos figured that even if he couldnt shake Cecil out of his trance, he would at least walk with him to keep him safe until he got to the "retreat". 

\-----   
Cecil lead Carlos far into the desert. They had been walking for hours and even though Cecil didnt seem tired, Carlos needed a break. There was nothing around them but desert so Carlos figured that it would be ok if Cecil got a little bit ahead of him while he rested. Its not like there was anywhere for Cecil to disappear to. 

Carlos had been stopped for about 10 minutes when he saw Cecil in the distance stop and squat down. Then, Cecil disappeared into the ground. Carlos paniced and ran after him. Apperently the retreat was a large underground complex, 5 miles out of town and the entrance was a trap door in the middle of nowhere. When Carlos arrived at the door, he stepped down into a bright corridor. The walls were white and it reminded him of a hospital, but it looked more like a zoo. The rooms had glass for walls and Carlos remembered the time his mother had taken him to see the lions. The lions were sitting in glass rooms just like these ones. On each of the doors there was a gold plaque with a name. As he walked along, he recognized some of the names. Steve Carlsburg, Larry Leroy, even Mayor Pamela Winchell had a room. Honestly, this place scared him. He tried calling out Cecil's name but the only response was an echo. There were so many hallways and rooms that Carlos had no idea where Cecil had gone, until he heard a bloodcurdling scream. 

\------  
Carlos ran in the direction of the screaming and found Cecil in his dedicated room. Apperently the glass was really a one way mirror because Cecil couldnt see Carlos even when he was standing right in front of him. 

Inside the room was a bed, a display case with small trinkets and china plates, and a bathtub. The walls were white and bare. Cecil was no longer in his robot trance but thrashing about the room violently. Tears were streaming down his cheeks and he kicked the walls, tore at his clothes, and screamed at the top of his lungs. Carlos tried to open the door but it was locked. He screamed Cecil's name but Cecil was oblivious to anything but that room. Finally Carlos slumped to the ground against the wall opposite of Cecil's room. There was nothing he could do so he just sat and watched.

Cecil was far from done letting out his anger. His tattoos began to glow and his tenticles ripped his shirt open. They were whipping aroung violently and his eyes were glowing a blinding red. The tenticles grabbed the plates and threw them against the wall, and he let out a battle cry as each plate was smashed. By the time Cecil ran out of plates, all of the energy had been drained out of him. His tenticles retreated and his eyes returned to normal. Cecil collapsed on the ground and hugged his knees to his chest. Shards of the plates cut his skin and tiny streams of blood slowly oozed out of him but he took no notice. He whimpered softly now, like a child, saying Carlos's name over and over and over again. Tears ran down his cheeks and he winced as they trickled over a cut on his chin. Carlos couldnt watch anymore. He knew he could find his way back to Cecil's room now that he knew where it was so he got up and stormed out of the complex into the bright desert sun. He just needed some fresh air. 

So this is what the retreat was, Carlos thought to himself. The government took you from your home, from your family that could actually help you. Instead, they stuffed you in a cage and let you run wild until everything was out of your system. No one to hold you when you cried. No one to help you relax. Just isolation. It was an efficient way to get it all out, but horrible nonetheless. Carlos hadnt even gotten the chance to try to work things out with Cecil yet. The emotional overload meant that Cecil got isolation for 2 days. Carlos knew Night Vale could be a dangerous place but he never expected something like this. It was times like these when Carlos wished he could take Cecil and get out of this crazy town. 

\------

By the time Carlos found his way back to Cecil's room, Cecil was just finishing up a nice warm bubble bath. He was smiling and humming to himself, like the old Cecil. Carlos watched as he climbed out of the shower, put on some clothes from his overnight bag and snuggled into the bed in the corner. After a few minutes, Carlos sighed with relief. Nothing more was going to happen to Cecil, and there was no way for Carlos to get to him either. The retreats usually lasted 2 days so Carlos knew Cecil would be home tomorrow morning. As horrid as it felt, Carlos decided to leave Cecil and go home. He was hungry and tired. But the whole way home, Carlos kept going over the events of the day in his mind. Seeing Cecil throw the plates. Watching Cecil weep on the floor. Hearing those screams. 

\------  
Carlos finally arrived home around dusk and went straight to bed. When he awoke the next morning, Cecil was sitting on the bed next to him stroking his hair and smiling sweetly. Carlos immediately got up, wrapped his arms around Cecil, and cried. Cecil looked bewildered but there would be time for explainations later. For now, all Carlos wanted to do was to hold Cecil tight, and never let go.


End file.
